Josh’s grin widens. I’ve met Anna-Marie a few times at agency functions, but I’ve only seen pictures of their gorgeous, dark-haired daughter. Josh Rios can be a shark when it comes to contracts and protecting his clients, but he has an equal reputation for being an unabashed family man—his wife and daughter are the top priorities in his life, and he makes no excuses for that. It’s one of the reasons I signed with him. It’s rare to find someone in this industry who gets what’s really important.
“Riony’s two,” he says. “And they would love that. Ri’s been obsessed with horses lately. Dragons, too, but I’m guessing you have fewer of those.”
“Horses we have. I’ll work on the dragons.” I smile, then let out a breath. We’ve done enough small talk to make me feel socially competent, and I know the problem—whatever it is—is still waiting for me. “So, what’s the bad news?”
Josh nods and sits forward, slipping right into business mode. “In the grand tradition of most things in life, there’s both good news and bad news.The good news is that the new Hemlock movie’s been green-lighted, and they definitely want you back.They’re willing to pay very, very well for this one.”
My eyes widen in surprise—this is about Hemlock? After my last two movies playing the comic book character exceeded box office expectations, it was pretty much guaranteed they’d make a third. Playing Hemlock hasn’t exactly been the artistic pinnacle of my career, but it’s been fun, and I’ve already told Josh I’d be up for another movie. I can’t imagine how this would lead to bad news.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “So, what, are we going to be filming in Siberia or something?”
“Close. Miami. In July and August.” He pauses. “This July.”
My brow furrows. “But that’s—”
“Only two months away, yeah. Apparently all the secrecy around this project, all that stuffIcouldn’t even get them to breathe a word on—well, what they’ve been working on came together all at once, and they want this done fast.”
Miami in July sounds a little miserable, but I can handle it. I technically don’t have any projects for the next six months. We can tinker withThe Schedule to give me more time with the kids before that. Maybe I’ll take most of June and—
“That’s not the important part,” Josh says, his expression reluctant. “This project is a crossover with a romantic subplot.They want Hemlock with Farpoint.”
I make a choked sound I’m not particularly proud of, then clear my throat. Farpoint is a character with a rival comics company. He’s had several successful box-office hits of his own, all of them starring my ex-husband.
“Farpoint,” I say numbly. “So that means . . .”
Josh nods. “That means you’ll be starring with Blake.”
I didn’t realize until that moment that my body could feel icy cold and flush with warmth all at the same time.
Starring in a movie with Blake.
It’s not that I haven’t done that before.That’s part of the problem. We co-starred in seven movies during the eight years we were together. We used to love doing movies together. It was like being back on that very first film, where we fell in love along with our characters.
But now . . .
“That’s not possible,” I say. “They can’t make a movie like that. Farpoint and Hemlock aren’t even owned by the same comics company.”The knowledge that there was zero chance these characters could ever interact was probably one of the main reasons Blake accepted the role of Farpoint, a year or so after our divorce. Nova Comics and Brigand Bay Comics are mortal enemies in the fandom world.Their fans seem to solidly line up in camps and spend most of their time piling weirdly specific hate on the other side.
This can’t be happening.There’s no way.They might as well announce that Batman’s new love interest is Black Widow.
“I know,” Josh says, and by the way he says it, I think he gets it even more than I do. I remember him saying once that he’s a bit of a comic book geek. “But the studio execs don’t care about fandom wars.They care about getting Hemlock and Farpoint together—especially as played by you and Blake.They stand to make a ton of money on this.”
I groan. “It was that webcomic, wasn’t it?That—what’s her name, Hannah Ver-something, put out a couple years ago.” Nobody was even thinking about Hemlock and Farpoint in the same sentence before that came out—the characters aren’t even in the same literal universe. But then there was this webcomic using stills from the movies, telling the epic affair of Hemlock and Farpoint’s undying love.The photoshop she did to put us together was actually really good. So good it was painful for me to read.
“Hannah Verhoeven, yeah.That got huge in the geek world. Big enough to be worth working something out with Nova and Brigand Bay to make this happen. And with you and Blake, well.”
He doesn’t need to spell it out. Hemlock and Farpoint together is one thing. Kim Watterson and Blake Pless back on screen together pulls in a whole other huge group of fans.
I’m standing before I even realize I’m doing it, pacing again. My chest is tight enough I feel like I’m pushing my lungs through a strainer. I force myself to be still, to breathe deeply.
“You don’t have to do this,” Josh says. “We can pass.” He pauses, his dark eyes sympathetic. “I can imagine how difficult it would be to work that closely with an ex-spouse.”
He doesn’t know the half of it. He, like most of the world, probably believes Blake cheated on me with our nanny. It wasn’t true, but we didn’t bother to fight that rumor, because it was easier than trying to explain to the world what really happened to our marriage. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure myself at the time.
It took me another few years and a medical diagnosis to piece it together. By then, it was way too late. Blake had long since moved on.
I, unfortunately, can’t seem to do the same.
“But my career,” I start, then squeeze my eyes shut together.
